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you did the right thing....why let this sack of shit ruin you and your family's day together? Very few people are worth my time........

I haven't been yet.....too busy for me right now. Although they're taking reservations I just haven't been in a hurry to deal with all the people and want to go when I can take the kids to the fountains. If you go make sure you try the Nehi soda's he has. haha I remember drinking those as a kid. He found someplace out in Indiana that has them and he's having them brought it. I guess he's sold an assload of those because people love them. They're old fashioned sodas made with sugar instead of HFCS. I remember when I was a kid getting peach Nehi with my dad and him saying " you can taste the hair on the peach".

my vote is for Columbus Brewing and Milestone 229.....and not just because my brother owns them

thanks.....I'll have him check with those guys. It's at the very rear of the car but I know most shops won't touch it without cats on there. Figured you guys would probably know someone that could help him out.

My buddy has Corsa stainless exhaust on his 98 vette. One of the tail pipes has a busted weld so he's looking for someone that can tack it back into place. Car doesn't have cats on it so he can't just take it to a shop. Can anyone here hook him up or do you guys know of a place he can take it?

this is exactly how it gets started......you guys will go a few times and then you'll start wanting more creature comforts. Camping is a great family thing to do....it's something everyone will enjoy. The great thing is that you're wife will probably be the one to say "how much are those travel trailers?" if she ever walks into one and checks out the room and creature comforts they have. That's what happened to us. We started doing some family trips in my old pop up. All my buddies had travel trailers and 5ers. Didn't take long for her to realize that my pop up was more suited to me and a buddy going hunting in. This year she was the one that wanted to start camper shopping and I wasn't arguing with her. Started looking at travel trailers and ended up in a 34' fifth wheel. Some of the new travel trailers we looked at were off the hook....power everything, outdoor kitchens, and all kinds of features. I just couldn't get past the 6'6 ceilings.....I like the tall ceilings in the 5ers.

the thing a pop up has going for it is it's interior size......doesn't take much to cool it down. The drawback is the a/c will cycle frequently.

If you're going to do a lot of summer camping that a/c will come in handy but IMO it's not completely necessary. Most of the time at night you can open up the camper and it'll actually be cool out. The exception is when it's really humid or raining. That's when an a/c really comes in handy. I would also recommend getting a generator to wag around. I do mostly primitive camping so there's no hook ups. It's nice having that option and even though you can get a few days out of your battery having that portable power is awesome.

Post's.....that's where I bought my 5er.

I might have a buddy that has an awning he'd sell you. I'm not completely sure if he still has it but I'll ask him. What would you want to pay for a new one? The awning on his old pop up was torn up so he bought a new one.....ended up selling his pop up before replacing the awning. I'll ask him if he still has it. PM me what you want to offer him for it and I'll pass that info along too. check out modmyrv.com....might have some mods there that would translate over. I think most of those are for 5ers and motorhomes but a lot will transfer.

thanks for the help guys......I'll get with haus of powder when it's time and have him do them.

Thinking of maybe having my truck wheels powder coated next spring. Anyone local do wheels and do you guys know what they charge per wheel?

only if the conveyor belt is in the stopped position......

isn't Pluto Mickey's dog???

I've never been......I've eaten so much BBQ though that it doesn't even appeal to me anymore. I would imagine just like with everything else you have some that are better than others. Just buy a bone at each place until you find the one you like.

how many kids do you have?

we had a 99 that my wife drove.....loved that car.

congrats.....your life will never be the same again. It'll be much better......after these first 6 months to a year. The first 6 months to a year suck balls.

we get the most out of it for sure....... 5 cases of beer in 2 days between 3 of us. One of our guys couldn't make this trip so it would've been just 2 of us. I asked another friend of mine to help out. Just run boxes for us and be an extra set of hands....saved us a ton of work really. Overall we're pretty happy with how we did out there. It's not a win but you have to factor in the experience those other teams have over us and the equipment level difference. There's some really nice smokers out there. We learned a few more things this weekend that we'll use in our next contest. We'll just keep plugging away at it.

did kettering this past weeekend. More teams.....45 total. Although our scores overall were better this time our finishes were worse. We were about mid pack on everything except ribs where we got a 9th place call. 3 points separated 9th from first so we were right on the bubble of placing well in ribs. One judge filled out a comment card on them and said they had too much pepper. Another judge gave us all 9's ( scoring is 2-9) so it's just a matter of what they like. Had a good time and drank a bunch of beer. right after setting up: http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj37/0rion_album/Kettering.jpg

first....go to Anderson's and buy the 20lb bag of frontier brand lump......some of the best stuff on the market. Lasts a good long time, doesn't produce a ton of ash, and has some decent size pieces in the bag. I try to cherry pick bags when I buy. The stuff on bottom is well.....on bottom and the stuff on top was most likely on the bottom of the pallet so I pull from the middle. It'll cut down on the amount of crushed stuff you have. Cowboy lump sucks balls......if I can't find frontier I go to Menards or wally world and get royal oak lump. Kroger brand lump is pretty decent too. Next up is patience. Be patient with your smoking. You won't nail everything right off. It took me a long time before I could nail ribs everytime I cook them. I gave up on cooking them for a while because they were kicking my ass. Once you get a few good racks under your belt you'll start to get the hang of it. Don't take them off until they're done so eat a sandwich halfway through if that's what it takes to keep you from eating them before they're done. Try to keep from opening the lid and looking at them if at all possible. You lose a ton of heat doing that and everytime you open the lid you're adding time to your cook. I know a lot of people spray their ribs with apple juice and it's a common and popular thing to do. I don't do that......I don't like losing the heat. I inject them with apple juice prior to cooking sometimes but normally don't do any of that. Heat control...specifically consistent heat is the key. You want to keep that smoker at a consistent temp as much as possible. It makes better ribs and if you can consistently keep your heat correct you can keep your ribs consistent. I just made 2 racks last weekend for my sons b-day party. 2 hours with heavy smoke followed by 2 hours wrapped. Took them out of the foil and sauced them and let them sit on the smoker for a bit to get the sauce nice and tacky. Came out great. Just like a car you can mod the hell out of that smoker. This guy did a few cool things to his. There are a ton of other sites out there.....the chargriller pro has basically the same texas style thing going except the duo's cooking box is smaller. You can do the same mods though. Another thing that will help you is picking out good ribs. Sam's club has some of the best rib packs I've found. The pack of 3 they have. Look for the thicker packages and flip that pack over ( or any ribs for that matter) you want to see meat showing on the bone side too. I'll give you a shout in August sometime. I think things will be settled down enough by then where I can have a get together here. All my cooking buddies come out and we smoke a bunch of stuff and get drunk as hell. You can come hang with us and watch how we do things. You'd probably pick up a few tricks.

I would probably mount the basketball goal a little more towards the drivers side......rebounds would be much easier to get that way.

I know exactly how you feel. Been there myself. You know what needs to happen....you said it yourself. It's not longer a "want" but a "need" to find a new job. I refused to become a miserable bitter old prick because of a job. I could either sit around and get bitter about things or just move on. Life is too short and there's more to life than money. I'm not saying quit work and go broke but you can do something for less money that still allows you to be happy. I quit working altogether ~4 years ago. Had a good paying job at Coca-Cola. I was frigin miserable though. I woke up every single day hating to go to work. It was effecting me, my wife, and my kids lives. No job is worth that. My wife makes good money so we decided I would stay at home with the kids. By far has been the best decision I"ve ever made. I've been albe to watch my kids grow up and the kids are better off having a parent at home. It's been awesome and I'm thankful as hell for the opportunity to do it. Hang in there and keep your eyes peeled. A better opportunity is out there.....you just gotta find it.

wtf? Is there nothing that people don't do? Seriously.....who does this kinda shit?